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YUCK!!! Outsourcing gone bad

I am still REALLY pissd so I better be breif. I disagreed with all of you about the downside of outsourcing but now have seen the light and bow to you all gracefully.

I think your concerns outlined the lack of jobs and the fact that companies are sending work to India for example.

In that discussion very little was said about the QUALITY of the work performed and everyone was offering opinion on the basis that these people getting the jobs were just as capable as US IT staff and were doing it for less.

Well, after 5.25 hrs on the phone to ??? in the Middle East(YES A HALF DAY AFTER A FULL DAY OF WORK IT WAS 2AM!!!)nothing was resolved, I had been politely walked through the same predictable steps I had tried myself, then all three of the 'techs' I spoke with did the SAME thing again. I ended up asking for Quality Assurance and getting some answers, basically to call the HO in California as they couldn't fill my request from somewhere in the middle east.

this morning I made a call to the provided number, in less than 5 minutes I was issued an RMA for a DOA product. Note: I had already determined the product was DOA before calling support to obtain an RMA, 5.25 HOURS!!!

Well, I can humbly say, I bow to the American IT staff who were so efficient and friendly, spoke excellent English (well American) and helped my with a happy tone.

In the original 5.25 hour call, I must add that the staff was extremely kind and understanding, they just didn't understand the problem and no matter how well explained they still just started with screen one step one and worked forward from there. Very polite, moreso than most, but absolutely USELESS as far as reading the customer and feeling me out for prior knowledge or things I've already done.

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Karma

Don't give me the bad Karma trip

Hey you can't say that Oldefar. Last weekend I was at the track and someone had left a $31 voucher in one of the betting machines. This happens often but vouchers just get cashed. We're not talking a betting slip but a cash voucher.

I the ,horrible and mean spirited Oz, bent straight to the cashiers and turned it in. If the person asks, they can trace your bets back and they will give you back the voucher if it hasn't been cashed.

About four races later, the Mutuel manager came up and said 'thanks for turning it in, it wasn't claimed' and he gave it back to me. KARMA!!!

So then I went a bet the next exator with it and made a $32.00 key bet which came in and paid $15.640.00. KARMA!!!

So don't go pulling the bad Karma trip in me, 'm big on Karma and LOVE it when it comes around.

Karma

I was explaining to my 5 year old about the belief that if you are a bad person in this life that when you die, you could come back as a rat or a snake, etc. He thought about it for a moment and said that he hoped that was true, because he wanted to come back as a bird and wants his brother to come back as a slug, then he can eat him.

Bad bussine$$

Dells support WAS one of there strong selling points. I haven?t had to deal with them lately but I don?t think that?s the case anymore. It may save them cash at first but in the long run it will cost them their reputation and profits.

I did support once

I worked for an outsource center called Convergyes. This center had Dell and Gateway accounts including Jello, Sunbeam, and everything under the sun. I got the Gateway account and all they taught me was the hose and close technique. The mantra that it was all about the 15 minute call due to they get paid per call and you were pressured to sell the FFR line to get them off the phone blaming "its a virus". All phone support is outsourced and you are not calling the actual company but these call centers. You would try to do your best but either one customer set you off not to care that day or trying to cover for the other iddiots screwup that made the situation worse. The only real training I got was how to document the call for payment rather than how to troubleshoot the issue.

I've had the same

The same crap and useless tier one support comes from Canada and the USA too.

My problem was not being understood, reiterating myself, having the nice fellow apologize over and over while walking in the same circle I just walked with the last support tech. As I explained that I had already been walked through these steps and that wasn't the issue, the kind man apologized and started doing ti ALL OVER AGAIN!!! Don't freakin apologize and then keep doing it!!! ARRRRGH! If you apologize, you are seeing that you may have made a mistake or repeated something already done thus wasting my time. Don't just start all over again then, try something new or let me speak to someone with a clue!

What I see as someone who has trained inside sales/customer service staff is that IT companies hire A+ certified employees and don't give a hott what their customer service skills are. If you can't caml a customer and keep them moving forward, who cares if you have A+. Secondly, A+ is USELESS in most of these positions because they simply read a resolution sheet and don't need any hardwaer knowledge anyway. Hire a monkey with good people skills instead.

Two Issues?

I don't believe that offshoring and poor customer service are one issue.

I have encountered poor customer service world wide, as well as incredibly superior customer service. The issue has always existed and will likely continue regardless of location. Companies who put a higher emphasis on quality customer service will build a more loyal customer base, but survival may require more than a small loyal base of customers.

Offshoring has a different set of issues depending on whether you are the beneficiary or victim of the location change in your job, and how much of the cost savings goes to reducing consumer costs versus enriching the 6% or so who control the bulk of any nations' wealth.

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